HHS Designation of Additional Members of the 

Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Designating a Class of Employees from 

Metals and Controls Corporation 

 Attleboro, Massachusetts 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Metals and Controls Corporation, Attleboro, Massachusetts 
I. Designation 

I, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, designate the class 

of employees defined in Section II of this report for addition to the Special Exposure 

Cohort (SEC), as authorized under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q. 

 ____December 10, 2009 _ ___[Signature on file]_____ 

 Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition 

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked at Metals and Controls Corp. in 

Attleboro, MA, from January 1, 1952 to December 31, 1967, for a number of 

work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring either solely under 

this employment, or in combination with work days within the parameters 

established for one or more other classes of employees included in the SEC. 

III. Designation Criteria and Recommendations 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, for the class defined in Section II of this report, the 

Secretary has determined, and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health 

(Board) has recommended, that 

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 

class received; and 

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have 

endangered the health of members of the class. 

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations 

to estimate the radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, 

the rule states that radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if 

NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate the 

maximum radiation dose for every type of cancer for which radiation doses are 

reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible circumstances by any 

member of the class. Alternatively, radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient 

accuracy if NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to 

estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a 

maximum dose estimate. 

The Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, advised the Secretary to designate the 

class as an addition to the SEC in a letter received by the Secretary on November 

19, 2009. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Metals and Controls Corporation, Attleboro, Massachusetts 

Page 2
IV. Designation Findings 

Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees 

covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

 NIOSH lacks sufficient information, which includes thorium internal monitoring 

and/or air sampling data, to allow it to estimate with sufficient accuracy the 

potential internal exposures to thorium to which the proposed class may have 

been subjected. 

 NIOSH finds that it is likely feasible to reconstruct with sufficient accuracy the 

occupational internal and external dose from uranium and radium as well as the 

medical dose for Metals and Controls Corp. workers. 

 Principal sources of internal radiation for members of the proposed class 

included exposures to uranium, thorium, and radium (Ra-226). Exposure to 

uranium and thorium occurred during the fabrication of uranium- and thoriumbearing components (including reactor fuel, metallic alloys, and metallic foils). 

Exposure to radium was limited to a single process, involving the manufacture of 

electrical breakers containing radium-bearing luminescent markers. 

 NIOSH has uranium urinalysis bioassay data for the period from 1953 through 

1967. NIOSH lacks internal monitoring data specific to thorium exposures. The 

limited area air sampling results available to NIOSH are specific to uraniumprocessing operations and are inadequate to bound internal intakes from thorium 

operations. NIOSH has found no usable information with which to assess thorium 

air concentrations and has not identified sufficient documentation to define and 

quantify the total thorium source term during the period from 1952 through 1967. 

 NIOSH has determined that reconstruction of internal dose from thorium is not 

feasible for the period from January 1, 1952 through December 31, 1967 due to 

the lack of thorium-specific monitoring or source term data. 

 NIOSH has determined that reconstruction of the internal dose from uranium for 

monitored workers as well as internal exposure to radium is likely feasible. 

 Principal sources of external radiation for members of the proposed class 

included exposures to beta and gamma radiation during the activities noted 

above. Additionally, there was external exposure from industrial radiography and 

non-destructive testing. 

 NIOSH has obtained external monitoring data for the period from 1953 through 

1967 and has determined that reconstruction of external dose for monitored 

workers is likely feasible. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Metals and Controls Corporation, Attleboro, Massachusetts 

Page 3
 Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined that there is insufficient 

information to either: (1) estimate the maximum radiation dose, for every type of 

cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed, that could have been 

incurred under plausible circumstances by any member of the class; or (2) 

estimate the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a 

maximum dose estimate. 

 The Board concurred with the NIOSH evaluation and recommended the 

proposed class for addition to the SEC.

 Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct radiation 

doses for the proposed class, NIOSH intends to use any internal and external 

monitoring data that may become available for an individual claim (and that can 

be interpreted using existing NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or 

procedures). Therefore, dose reconstructions for individuals employed at Metals 

and Controls Corp. during the period from January 1, 1952 through December 

31, 1967, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be performed 

using these data as appropriate. 

 Health Endangerment

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of 

employees covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

(1) Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3), NIOSH established that there is a 

reasonable likelihood that such radiation doses may have endangered the 

health of members of the class. Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii), NIOSH 

specified a minimum duration of employment to satisfy this health 

endangerment criterion as “having been employed for a number of work days 

aggregating at least 250 work days within the parameters established for this 

class or in combination with work days within the parameters (excluding 

aggregate work day requirements) established for one or more other classes 

of employees in the Cohort.” 

(2) NIOSH did not identify any evidence from the petitioners or from other 

resources that would establish that the class was exposed to radiation during 

a discrete incident likely to have involved exceptionally high-level exposures, 

such as a nuclear criticality incident, as defined under 42 C.F.R. § 

83.13(c)(3)(i). 

(3) The Board concurred with NIOSH’s finding that the health of the class may 

have been endangered and defined the class according to the 250-work day 

requirement specified under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii). 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Metals and Controls Corporation, Attleboro, Massachusetts 

Page 4
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Metals and Controls Corporation, Attleboro, Massachusetts 

Page 5

V. Effect and Effective Date of Designation 

The Secretary submits this report on the designation of one additional class to the 

SEC for review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(C)(ii) and 

7384q(c)(2)(A), as amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in 

scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(C)(ii), as 

amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 

U.S.C.), the designation in this report will become effective 30 days after the date of 

this report’s submission to Congress “unless Congress otherwise provides.” 

VI. Administrative Review of Designation 

The health endangerment determination of the designation provided in this report 

may be subject to an administrative review within HHS, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 

83.18(a). On the basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to expand the class 

of employees covered by this designation, the Secretary would transmit a 

supplementary report to Congress providing the expanded employee class definition 

and the criteria and findings on which the decision was based.